The present disclosure relates to mobile communications devices, and more particularly, to configuration management for mobile communications devices.
Many functionalities may be provided by mobile communications devices (also referred to as wireless terminals, radiotelephones, smartphones, etc.). A mobile communications device, for example, may combine a plurality of functionalities such as a radiotelephone, an e-mail transmitter/receiver, text message (e.g., Short Message Service or SMS) transmitter/receiver, an internet browser, a digital camera, a digital audio recorder, a digital video recorder, an address book, a calculator, a calendar, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a digital game, an audio player (such as an MP3 player), a digital video player, a pager, a word processor, a spreadsheet, a digital data transmitter, and/or a digital image viewer.
With multiple functionalities provided on a single device, however, if the device must be turned off in environments where one or a subset of the functionalities is prohibited, use of other non-prohibited functionalities may also be lost when the device is turned off. Stated in other words, all use of the device may be lost in environments where only one or a subset of the functionalities is prohibited if the device is turned off. If radio communications are prohibited for safety reasons (such as on an airplane or in a hospital) or if audio notifications (e.g., a ringtone) are prohibited for reasons of courtesy (e.g., in a library, theater, museum, etc.), for example, turning the mobile communications device off may result in loss of use of other allowed functionalities of the mobile communications device as well.
More particularly, functionalities using radio/wireless transmissions (e.g., radiotelephone communications, internet browsing, e-mail communications, text message communications, etc.) may be prohibited in environments where radio transmissions may interfere with operation of critical electronic devices, such as in a hospital or on an airplane. Certain functionalities, such as radiotelephone communications, audio alerts, etc., may also be prohibited where silence is desired (such as in a theater, a library, a museum, etc.). In addition, functionalities including data transmission and/or recording may be prohibited for security reasons (such as in a military area, an industrial area, an embassy, etc.) or for commercial reasons (such as at a museum, a sporting event, a concert, or a theatrical performance where unauthorized image, video, and/or audio reproductions are prohibited).
To address some of these issues, a mobile communications device may provide different configurations to facilitate limited use of the device where/when some functionalities may be prohibited and/or undesired but other functionalities may be permissible. A mobile communications device, for example, may provide an “airplane mode” configuration (also referred to as a non-transmission mode configuration) so that all radio/wireless communications functionalities (e.g., radiotelephone communications, e-mail communications, text message communications, internet browsing, etc.) are suppressed/disabled while allowing use of other functionalities that do not use radio communications (e.g., audio player, video player, games, calculator, calendar function, etc.). In addition or in alternatives, a mobile communications device may provide a “vibrate mode” (or “silent mode”) configuration so that audible alerts (e.g., ringtones) are suppressed, with silent alerts being provided using vibration instead.
Typically, the configurations (e.g., “airplane mode” configuration, “vibrate mode” configuration) are turned on/off manually by the user. As a user of a mobile communications device changes locations, however, a desired configuration may change, but the user may not know or remember to turn on/off a configuration as needed.
Notwithstanding known methods/systems, there continues to exist a need to provide improved methods of configuring mobile communications devices.